Audley Care LTD - Binswood

This provider is based on site and provides emergency support to everyone living there. Planned day to day personal care can be provided by staff based at this site or from other agencies who provide personal care and support packages. Not everyone living on site receives regulated personal care. In addition to providing personal care to people on site, this service also supports people in the local community in their own homes.

At the time of this inspection visit, Audley Care Limited Binswood supported 10 people on site and 32 people in the local community so we only looked at the care and support for those people receiving personal care from this provider.

People were safe because staff were recruited safely. Staff and the provider knew how to keep people safe and protected from abusive practice. Systems to learn lessons when things went wrong helped to drive improvements and the registered manager notified us and the relevant body at the right times.

People said staff were extremely kind, caring, sensitive and always willing to do what was needed and expected of them. People were cared for by staff who attended training relevant to their roles as well as further developmental opportunities in other health related topics. Assessments were completed before care was provided. This helped to ensure staff had the relevant skills and knowledge to meet a person's needs.

Staff followed infection control procedures in line with national guidance for reducing the spread of COVID- 19.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

People's plans of care were sufficient for staff to provide safe care. However, where people used specialist

equipment or were at risk of falling, more detail was required. Risks related to people's care were recorded and reviewed. There were instructions for staff to follow to manage those identified risks, however some risks, such as risks related to specialist equipment needed to be more personalised. The registered manager assured us this would be addressed. Conversations with staff showed they knew how to manage risk and in some examples, intervention by a GP or occupational therapist had been sought to help keep people safe.

Staff's knowledge of how to support people was consistent with people's care records and what people told us. Staff said there was limited or no reliance on agency staff, which meant the staff team worked well together because they knew people and their preferred routines.

Within some agreed care packages, staff had time to support people with their social interests and hobbies. Through the pandemic, government restrictions had impacted on people's confidence to re-engage with the wider society. Staff spent time with people encouraging them to venture out and to do the things they enjoyed doing. The registered manager shared examples of how this had enriched people's lives.

People receiving a home care service, their relatives and staff were complimentary about the way the registered manager ran the agency, and how approachable they were. The quality and safety of the service people received was routinely monitored by the registered manager. The registered manager promoted an open and inclusive culture which sought the views of people who used the service, their relatives and staff.